I think you have to link Best CFS A/C to a period of history to get the full picture.
Ahh the 60s! JP4s and tons of illicit Air Combat during ‘mutuals’ over the vale of Evesham.
For most of the 60s, before the expensive new types arrived, (Phantom, Harrier, C130), etc., there was still a hangover of the WW2 can-do and stuff the regulations attitude, and there were still a lot of ex-WW2 pilots instructing.
As a splendid old (he must have been at least 40) ex-Spitfire Master Pilot told me at Cranwell, the JP4 performs a bit like a late-mark Spitfire.
That was good enough for us reluctant Creamies at Rissy. On each mutual you would approach any other JP and see if he wanted to play. Once you were off all the rules went out of the window . What rules? We had no training in Air Combat or awareness of any of the safety requirements. We got stuck in and taught ourselves - like rookie Battle of Britain pilots up against 109s we either won or got massacred, and no-one was firing live ammunition.
Any tactic was used to gain advantage: In and out of cloud, rolling scissors close in until you could count the rivets, flick manoeuvres, (very interesting for someone just a few yards behind you!), the whole thing ending up in a chase around the woods and fields of the Cotswolds at low level.
How did we survive? Just luck, that’s all. And the lessons learned proved invaluable later on on sharp aeroplanes.